NDA to send 8-member fact-finding team to Karur

NEW DELHI: BJP president JP Nadda has formed a delegation of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs to visit Karur to probe the circumstances leading to a stampede and submit a report.

The BJP generally sends its own leaders to the sites of tragic incidents for an inquiry, but this time, the party has included MPs from its allies–Shiv Sena and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) –in the eight-member committee, in an apparent messaging about the importance it attaches to its partners.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Mathura and actor Hema Malini, who is a Tamil, is the convenor of the delegation, and its members include Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde and TDP’s Putta Mahesh Kumar.

The other members are Arurag Thakur, Tejasvi Surya, former IPS officer Brij Lal, Aparajita Sarangi and Rekha Sharma, all from the BJP.

The death toll in the stampede at a rally of TVK chief Vijay on Saturday has gone up to 41, with another victim, a 60-year-old woman, succumbing to her injuries at a hospital, officials said on Monday.

The victim succumbed to her injuries at the Karur Government Medical College Hospital, pushing the number of women among the victims up to 18. Ten children and 13 men were also among the dead.

This outreach is apart from Finance Minister and BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman’s personal visit to Karur. Nirmala Sitharaman recalled the stories narrated by survivors, noting that they were standing in the open without food or water since 12 noon on the day of the stampede.